


How to Train Your Partner

by TyrannoVox



Category: Transformers (Unicron Trilogy), Transformers: Armada
Genre: will add tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-01-12 17:37:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18451385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TyrannoVox/pseuds/TyrannoVox
Summary: Hotshot’s journey to becoming a Dragon Rider.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Something I've been wanting to do on my own time when my co-writer for 'Not Alone' isn't busy and what not...and my muse.
> 
> I'm thinking of making Jolt a Skrill but I'm not sure. What do you guys think?
> 
> Also, who do you want Hotshot to get with in this?
> 
> Now, enjoy the Prologue!

My name is Hotshot the Fast and I was born in a smaller village outside of Iacon, a prosperous city that was home to a tribe of vikings, called the Autobots. I don’t remember much about the village, mostly because of it being destroyed in a dragon raid and I stayed under the wreckage for Odin knows how long...before I was found by two men from the Autobots who took me into Iacon and one of the men had decided to raise me as his own.

Ah, I should probably explain what happened before I was born, shouldn’t I?

Long ago, when Iacon was still just a small village, were at war with a rival tribe called the Decepticons. This tribe lived miles and miles away, across a large body of water which was named the Sea of Rust thanks to the bloodiest battle between us and them and the sea was red with blood and remained there, turning a rusty color until, finally, it faded away.

The war lasted for hundreds of years until a bigger threat came from the sky and from the sea and began to raid both villages.

You guessed it, the dragons.

Because of the dragons, a treaty was put into place and thus, the war between the two tribes ended. Still, the dragons continued to raid from years to come and the future seemed bleak.

Until hope came into an unexpected form. 

The heirs of the tribes, Optimus the Prime and Megatron the Brutal, were both lost for many months until, one day, they returned but they weren’t alone.

Megatron rode on the back of a previously unknown species of dragon that looked closer to the Night Fury. It had white scales that shimmered in the sunlight and the moonlight and yellow eyes that seemed to regard everyone cooly. Small spikes ran down its head down to the tip of the tail.

Optimus, on the other hand, rode on the back of a yellow scaled Dramillion.

Since then, only a handful of vikings on both sides were able to get their own dragons though I was never one of them since I came to live with the tribe.

Oh, and the one who adopted me?

It was Optimis the Prime.


	2. Just Another Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! Was doing some other things and was working. 
> 
> I still have yet to figure out what Jolt is gonna be in this fic...Hopefully, I'll be able to decided soon. Also, have yet to decide who Hotshot will get with.
> 
> For those who are waiting for the 3rd Chapter of "Not Alone", We are trying our best. We might scrap the whole "Posts on Sundays" And just post whenever we get the chapter done. Also, we've just been busy with real life but rest assured, we are working on the third chapter.
> 
> Now that's out of the way, enjoy!

“Augh!” I groaned as I came into the waking world thanks to the familiar, slobbery tongue licking the side of my face. I lifted my hands and pushed the scaly head back before sitting up and wiped some of the saliva off of my cheek and some out of my blonde hair. I glared at Sparkplug, My adoptive father’s Dramillion and his blue eyes that seem to almost match mine just gave me an unimpressed look before nudging me to get out of bed.

“I’m up, I’m up.” I grumbled before standing up from my bed and got changed into my usual, dark red tunic, yellow vest, black pants and shoes before following Sparkplug out of my room and to the room where we usually cook and half food in. 

When I walked in, I could see Optimus cooking something for breakfast that smelled delicious. 

Optimus was a little bit smaller than the last chief from what I understand, but he was still well respected among the Autobots and Decepticon alike. He had almost golden eyes with black bangs covering his forehead. He was already dressed in a blue tunic and blue pants and his shoes. His armor, which was red and had the tribe symbol on its chest, hung on its usual spot against the wall.

“Morning, Hotshot.” he greeted, not even turning around to see if I was actually here. How does he do that?

“Morning, Dad.” I sat down at the wooden table with Sparkplug settling down next to me. The dragon had taken up the task of becoming my protector when I was still really young, just after Optimus and Smokescreen had rescued me from the ruins of my birth village when I was 4.

It happened when I had wandered off, away from Optimus who were talking to Scavenger, his oldest friend and mentor. It was a year after I was found and I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere near the dragons but hey, I still found some, one of them being Sparkplug who was getting a drink from a trough.

As soon as he heard the curious croons from the other dragons that were there, he took one look and suddenly, he was standing over me, giving the others a warning growl. The other dragons quickly went back to they were doing since he was essentially their alpha and the chief’s dragon.

The next thing I knew, he had laid down, curled up around me and waited for Optimus to come find me.

A plate was set down in front of me, causing me to come back to the present. On the plate was some cooked fish, salomon to be precise, one of my favorites. I was quick to dig in, chewing and swallowing without much care. It tasted absolutely delicious. 

“Hotshot.” Optimus began as he sat in front of him, making me look up from my meal.

“You’re sixteen now and I think you should start the training sessions with Smokescreen and Scavenger.”

All youth, once they turned sixteen, were to undergo group training sessions to fight wild dragons to protect themselves. Fighting the wild dragons weren’t ideal in the slightest since some members of our tribe obviously had their own dragons. Still, we had no choice as the wild dragons were continuously raiding us.

“When do I start?” I asked him.

“Well, there’s a session happening right after breakfast a few days from now.”

“Alright.” I continued to eat until I was done. I stood up, thanked Optimus before bidding him a good rest of his morning and then I was out of the house and strolled through Iacon, humming as I walked. I greeted everyone that I walked past before I found myself down at the training ring.

Below, in the ring, I could see Scavenger and Smokescreen below, teaching a lesson about one of the dragons and it seemed to be a oral lesson rather than a physical one.

“Hey, bro!” a voice chirped from behind me, making me look over my shoulder. I smiled when I saw that it was Sideswipe.

He was about a year younger than me as well as slightly shorter. He had a head full of messy black hair and his eyes were the same shade of blue as mine. He wore a simple light blue tunic and leggings with matching shoes. Also, like me, he was brought in as an Orphan and had been adopted by Smokescreen.

“Hey, Sideswipe. Came to see Blurr, again?” I smirked teasingly at the younger, who’s face immediately went red, causing me to snicker. My self-proclaimed little brother had developed a crush on the said viking in training since he first came to the tribe a year ago...and it was cute and hilarious at the same time.

“N-NO!” Sideswipe stammered before covering his face to hide his blush.

“Sideswipe! Hotshot!” a voice called from below and we instantly knew that Sideswipe’s loud ‘no’ got their attention. I could see Smokescreen staring up at me, a grin split on his face.

Smokescreen was like my fun uncle with soft brown eyes and his hair was a very light brown, almost beeding into a blond color. He was wearing his usual orange tunic with a brown furred vest with a pair of dark grey leggings. His left leg was just a simple peg, though he could have an actual prosthetic leg but he quickly turned it down.

Beside him stood Scavenger who were a few inches taller than the other man. He had light brown eyes and a head of black hair. Out of the two of them, he was more muscular and he had a green tunic and leggings as well as what looked like to be a purple decals on the tunic. He was one of the ones who had trained Optimus way back, when the leader was my age.

“Hey Smokey! Scavenger!” I chirped, waving at them slightly.

“H-hey!” Sideswipe called down from beside me.

“You two going to join us?” questioned Smokescreen.

“Nah! I’ll be a part of your lessons soon enough.” I replied with a grin before looking at Sideswipe. “Come on, it’s our turn to wash off some of the dragons.”

Sideswipe groaned but otherwise didn’t complain. We scampered off and went straight to the bathing fountain that sat almost in the middle of the city.

The bathing fountain was a large circle that was about four feet deep. In the middle was a wooden dragon that stood up about ten feet and would sprout water whenever someone pulled a level outside of the fountain. 

There was already some dragons in the fountain, splashing each other and just enjoying a good soak.

I glanced over at Sideswipe and we both shared a look before making our way forward.

* * *

 

**_I opened my eyes when I felt something probing my mind. I heard here the Queens voice, urging me to get up, demanding for me and the others to bring her food. Of course I listen for I could not go against her, no matter how much I wished._ **

**_I stood up from my crude nest- we never could make a proper nest because of her- and after I stretched, I took flight with my nest mates and exited out of our home. I could see the sun slowly dropping lower and soon, darkness would be upon us as our cover._ **

**_We turned towards the direction of a large human nest, one that we had attacked before._ **

**_It was plentiful with a specific type of food. An animal that was covered in strange fur._ **

**_We began our track, hurrying as much as we could. Our Queen does not like to wait._ **


	3. The Raid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still no idea what ship I'm gonna do with Hotshot, so bear with me!
> 
> Also, still am not sure what Jolt will be...I'll try to think up one and get the next chapter written up and out as soon as I can!
> 
> Now, enjoy! Remember to put a comment to let me go what you all think!

We got done bathing the dragons two hours later and the rest of the day was spent playing with some of the newly hatched baby dragons. Their eggs were found on some expeditions by some travelers and traders and they sold them to both the Autobots and Decepticons to hatch and raise them to be faithful dragons to future riders. Someday, one of them will be my dragon, my partner…

When the sun touched the horizon, Sideswipe and I ushered the hatchlings into the stable before starting to make our way towards his home. It was dangerous, wondering the city at night because that’s when the wild dragons would attack villages and cities. Of course, we were well equipped now and was ready for them every night, although we would always sigh in relief when no attacks or raid came in the night.

Tonight was no such night.

I made sure that Sideswipe got home before the sun had fully set and talked with Smokescreen, who had beaten us by a few minutes, mainly about my training sessions before starting to make my way towards my own home.

Now, I have two curfews. The one that Optimus set, I have to be home right after the sun had disappeared but the sky was still splashed with oranges and yellows. The second is that I have to be home before the sun fully disappeared...yeah, we all can guess who set that one.

Sparkplug landed right in front of me out of nowhere, making me stop. He looked at me before he let out a chortle.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m going to be late for your curfew.” I rolled my eyes before walking around the dragon and began my walk to home once more. Sparkplug quickly followed and fell into step beside me, keeping a keen eye out for any wild dragons that could come and attack the city at any moment.

We were almost home when the sun fully disappeared but Sparkplug suddenly stopped, body tensing as he whipped his head towards a direction, his pupils becoming slits. He threw his head up and let out a loud roar that caused every rider and their dragon to jump into action.

Before I knew it, Sparkplug had lowered himself, nudged me into his saddle with his wing before he took off, heading straight to our home. It wasn’t far away, but he wanted to get me there as soon as he could before the flock of wild dragons could get here.

He landed near the front door, allowing me to slide off of the saddle and land onto the ground just as Optimus walked out of the door, posture rigid and he had donned his armor.

“You do know I can help, right?” I asked him as I stepped away from Sparkplug.

“Hotshot, we’ve been through this.” Optimus slipped into the saddle, clipping himself onto it so he wouldn’t fall off. “You need to be in training for a few weeks before you could even attempt to fight alongside those who doesn’t have dragons yet.”

“But can’t I do...anything? Like man the catapults or something!”

Optimus let out a small sigh before staring down at me. I knew that he could see the determination in my eyes, the wanting, the hoping.

“There’s a Bola launcher at the back of the house. Only use it when your not in any immediate danger.”

“Yes sir!” I grinned and then Sparkplug took flight and joined up with the other riders. Just in time too as the wild flock came into view, heading straight to Iacon.

It was instant chaos.

The flock outnumbered the riders, so some had engaged with them while others began the raid, setting homes and other buildings ablaze and grabbing whatever food they could. I could only watch, feeling helpless as the wild dragons clashed with our dragons, snarling and clawing and biting. It’s a wonder how we haven’t lost any one of our dragons yet from the wounds they obtained.

A blast struck a few feet from the house, right on a catapult that was out of commission. This resulted in white hot splinters of wood and chunks of metal being flung in every direction. I managed to flung myself inside of the house just before the hot debris could land on me and would thus burn me.

I stayed on the floor for a moment, listening to the carnage outside before I pushed myself up and rushed back outside and to the back of the house and to the Bola launcher. I was quick to get it ready and then, I stared up at the sky, narrowed my eyes and waited for a dragon to fly into my sight.

Luckily, it didn’t take long and I saw a flash of orange in the night sky, in front of the stars. I quickly aimed and pulled the trigger, the recoil sending me flat on my ass. A shock and pained roar met my ears, making me look up and watched as the orange form, now bound, fell somewhere far from Iacon.

I stared before a grin slowly stretched on my face. I had done it, I had taken down a wild dragon!

My grin fell though as I realized that I had to do one thing that I had always dread of doing; killing the wild dragon.

It’s something everyone had to do when they caught their first wild dragon. They were simply too feral to try and train or tame unless you catch one that was still young. Knowing my luck, the wild dragon was fully groan and would most likely be beyond pissed.

I hesitated, wondering if I should tell Optimus what I had done, before making my way around the house just as the remaining flock left, some of the food in their grasp.

Sparkplug landed in front of me and Optimus slid off of the dragon. I could see smears of blood shine in the fire light on both his armor and sword. Sparkplug had puncture wounds on his neck and small, shallow slashes on his side. 

“Are you alright?” Optimus questioned me as he slipped off his helmet. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I assured him. I opened my mouth before pausing, my consciousness stopping me, then closed my mouth and just smiled up at him.

I decided not to tell him about the dragon I had taken down.

* * *

 

**_When we had gotten to the human nest, there were humans on dragons waiting for us. Some of us clashed with them while others went after the humans below and attempted to gather as much prey and food as they could. I wasn’t partaking in any of that and, instead, I was flying around the nest. In all honesty...I wasn’t sure what I was doing._ **

**_I knew that I should be helping my nest mates with fighting or food gathering, but I couldn’t for whatever reason._ **

**_I began to veer around once I noted that I was on the verge of flying away from the island._ **

**_What I didn’t account for was being spotted and thus, I felt pain as two metal balls that were attached by a long rope hit me, wrapping around my body. Then, I was falling...falling…_ **

_**I was knocked unconscious as I hit and skidded along the ground.** _


	4. Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still have yet to figure out a pairing. Yay. I will be trying to figure that out before the next chapter. If anyone have a suggestion, go ahead and comment it!
> 
> Now, enjoy this chapter!

When the first rays of the morning sun filtered into the room, I rolled out of my bed and got dressed before heading out of my room and into the cooking room, where Optimus already were, getting everything ready to make breakfast for us.

“Morning dad.” I greeted, making him look over his shoulder and at me in surprise.

“Morning Hotshot. You’re up early.” 

“I’m planning on exploring. Better to get an early start then going later and only have half of the day to explore.”

Optimus thought for a moment before he nodded. “A sound point. You need to eat first before you run off.”

“Yes sir.” I mock salute, making him shook his head and began to cook. It didn’t take him long at all to cook a fish and set it down in front of me before he started to make himself some food.

It didn’t take long for me to finish my fish and when I did, I jumped to my feet and bolted out of our home, waving at Optimus as I went. He began to jog through the city before finally coming upon the edge of it. Then, I began my track through the surrounding forest, making my way towards where I saw the dragon fell. 

It was a long trek, jumping over logs, skidding down hills and ducking over low hanging branches. In all honesty, I had no idea where exactly I was going besides the general area and because of this, it was especially dangerous for me to even be out here. Who knows if the dragon is injured and if the bola held or not. A injured dragon that was free from a bola are almost the most dangerous.

I looked all over the area when I got there, trying to see any signs of a downed dragon. So far, there was none, which disappointed me. Maybe it landed somewhere further or maybe it got out of the trap and flew off.

I slumped. If that was the case, I should head home now and just forget about it. But…

Something inside me was tugging, trying to keep me going forward...and I did. I trudged on, going further and further from Iacon until, finally, I came upon a splintered tree trunk. Beyond it was a groove in the ground that was going downwards until it disappeared at a hill. I was quick to follow the trail and then, I was behind a large boulder and I could have sworn I heard something breathing beyond it. I peaked over the boulder...and there it was, a bright orange dragon, wrapped in a bola.

“Yes!” I whisper-shouted to myself. “I’ve done it! I took down a dragon all on my own!”

I quickly took out my knife and crept around the rock and began to silently walk over to the down dragon, now taking in its appearance. It was only at this time that I realized that this dragon was a Sand Wraith, a dragon that was almost as rare as a Night Fury. I could see that the tips of all it’s horns and around it’s eyes were a darker orange and not black like how the usual Sand Wraith’s have.

Then, it moved, it’s body jolt slightly and it letting out a harsh breath after I was almost right on top of it. I watched as a blue eye opened, revealing it’s slitted pupil and it was looking right at me.

“Less feral dragons, the better.” I muttered to myself, trying to justify the raising of my knife over my head. “Feral dragons are dangerous, so I’m just protecting my family and friends…”

My arms locked above my head as my grip tightened around the hilt of my knife. I stared at the chest of the Sand Wraith, trying to pinpoint where the best spot to plunge my knife would be. Then, I did my only mistake that changed everything.

I looked at the dragon’s head and watched as it’s eye closed and it seemingly accepted it’s fate.

My resolves diminished and I felt regret setting in. My arms dropped and now, the knife hung from my hand loosely. “Shit...I did this. I’m the one who…”

I turned, about to leave before he stopped and looked back at the bound dragon. Shit, if another human came and found this guy, he wouldn’t have a fighting chance…

So, I began to cut the rope as quickly as I could. One was cut, then two, then three…

Then I was suddenly on my back with a paw on my chest and claws at my throat. Blue, slitted eyes stared down at me and hot breath battered my face. 

Wings spread as the horned head moved back slightly, mouth opening, revealing white, sharp fangs and for a moment, I thought it was going to turn me into ash.

Instead, he just roared loudly into my face and then, it was off, flying- or was it attempting to fly?- away, leaving me in that same spot on my back, staring after it.

I didn’t get up for a long moment as the shock continued to hold my body. Luckily, it didn’t take long for me to get a hold of my bearings and I forced myself to stand on my shaky legs after grabbing my knife and then began to walk away back towards Iacon, my heart pounding in my chest.

* * *

 

**_When I had awakened, I did not expect a small human to stand above me, the sharp, silver rock above his head. I knew what he was going to do and I accepted it._ **

**_What I did not expect was the sound of cutting and the bindings around me starting to slack. My muscles tensed as the bindings continue to slack until, finally, I was able to move. I sprang up and pinned the human to the ground, staring into his fearful, blue eyes. It would be easy to just kill him right then and there...but no. I simply decided to roar in his face and turned, jumping into the air to fly off but something was wrong. I could not get any altitude and I kept running into things and dropping close to the ground._ **

**_I landed into a hole in the ground that had some rocks, a few trees and a large lake that was full of fish._ **

**_As I tried to fly out of this place and failed, I realized that I was going to be stuck here for whoever knows how long because of an unforeseen force or injury that I didn’t know._ **

**_I was stuck here, alone for possibly the rest of my life._ **


End file.
